September 2017 should have been the worst month of Colin Nathan's career in boxing.
Hekkie Budler was swindled out of a world title in the Philippines, first by the referee who allowed his opponent, the IBF junior-flyweight champion, to have a bad cut above his eye patched up mid-round, and then by two judges on the scorecards.
Then Nathan walked away from Rodney Berman, SA's most powerful promoter, over a disagreement on how to bring Budler back from that controversial defeat.
Berman wanted to forget the IBF strap and go after another world title, but Nathan went behind his back and lodged a protest.
Nathan's career might have ended right then; SA boxing is littered with the corpses of trainers and managers who lacked the backing of capable promoters.
Instead Nathan has soared.
The trainer-manager is moving his 19-year-old Hot Box gym from Glenhazel in east Johannesburg to new premises in nearby Savoy Estate, but it's his moves in the sport that have really stood out.
In May last year he guided Budler to his historic triple victory for the IBF, WBA and The Ring magazine junior-flyweight crowns.
Less than two months later he was back in the corner as Moruti Mthalane reclaimed his IBF flyweight title.
As a co-manager Nathan secured his third world champion in February when US-based Dee-Jay Kriel, the kid he trained until mid-2018, won the IBF strawweight mantle.
And he has two more world title contenders in the wings, Azinga Fuzile and Simphiwe Khonco.
"I did this with no support locally - no promoter, no TV," said 41-year-old Nathan.
The key to success has been making contacts internationally, a tactic Nathan employed early in his career as a trainer when he travelled to the US to learn from the masters of the trade.
He befriended Angelo Dundee, the legendary cornerman of Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard, as well as Freddie Roach, the mastermind behind Manny Pacquiao.
"The best lesson I learned from Angelo was just be a gentleman, be nice. He showed me initially how to tape hands. He also showed me how to deal with cuts.
"Freddie was just amazing to me. Just an all-round guy, a great teacher. When Freddie talks boxing you've just got to keep up, he's very fast. He knows his stuff."
As a manager Nathan was forced to dive into the deep end when he went solo.
"I'm really starting to love the business side to boxing, I'm starting to understand the dynamics of how boxing really works," said Nathan, who is involved in no fewer than three boxing businesses outside of his regular trainer-manager role.
He heads up the African arm of MTK Global, an international management boxing concern that boasts British heavyweight Tyson Fury as a client.
He's also in another management company with two friends, American Sean Gibson and Australian Mike Altamura.
Locally he also runs No Doubt, a consultancy that has worked with promotion outfit Rumble Africa. And he's not done yet. "My next moves's really going to surprise and shock people," he said.
"I've learned more in the last 14 months in the business side of boxing than I've learned in my entire career, and that's because I surround myself with guys who are smarter than me.
"One thing I've learned is there always have to be contingency plans."
Nathan's passion for the sport started as a child growing up in Cape Town, learning from his late dad Stan, a cornerman in his spare time.
He attended his first title fight in 1987, a provincial middleweight scrap between Sandile Hoho and Phillip Mampara.
He started Hot Box in 2000, earning more from Boxercise than from professional boxing; he's since morphed into a successful trainer and now a top manager.
That night Budler got fleeced Nathan had no idea how his career was going to change. "I actually went to sleep crying that night. It was one of the few times in my boxing career I went to sleep crying ... I cried because I felt we were so hard done by."
But the fates were in his corner. "Lara, my wife, was like, 'look what's come of it'. Sometimes a bad decision leads to good things," said the father of three.
"Most of the things in my career I've been very lucky. When people ask me how I've done things I say 'magic'."
Magic and hard work...